TEHRAN – Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Hossein Selahvarzi has said the government’s main goal in setting the financial policies in next year’s budget bill should be strengthening production and exports in the country, the ICCIMA portal reported.

Speaking at the fifth meeting of the ICCIMA board of directors on Sunday, Selahvarzi said: “If the government sets financial policies only with the intention of eliminating the budget deficit, the results will not be better than this year's conditions.”

“Policies such as canceling tax exemptions and imposing duties on export companies have no result other than weakening the production and export base of the country,” the official explained.

“The solution to compensate for the budget deficit is, first of all, to control the government’s expenses through the elimination of parallel coasts and redundancies, and secondly, the sale of bonds and making government properties more productive,” he added.

The official also warned about the consequences of temporary commercial ID cards and noted that the government should be accountable for issuing such ID cards.

EF/MA